2001 Volkswagen Jetta GLS AWD 1.8 turbo from North America

Summary:

This car SUCKS!!!

Faults:

Everything that could go wrong with a car has gone wrong in this car. Water-pump, mass air flow sensor, suction lines, numerous valves, A/C, trunk lock, temperature sensor and these are just to name a few.

All the parts for Volkswagen are very costly. I really regret that I bought this car. This car is very unreliable and very costly to maintain!!!

2001 Volkswagen Jetta GLX VR6 from North America

Summary:

Faults:

Nothing major has broken, but at 100-300 dollars every time it goes to the shop, it gets expensive.

General Comments:

Fun to drive. Speedy with the 6 cylinder engine, but still gets good fuel economy.

Since I stopped taking it to the dealership for maintenance, I have loved this car. The dealership was very expensive and never really fixed anything. I found a good imports mechanic and he fixed my car up nice. Runs great now.

General Comments:

I purchased this 2001 Jetta VR6 new. I liked that the car has pretty good horsepower and the feeling of low end torque. It handled well too.

Soon things started to go wrong with the car. One day, after about 14000 miles, a puddle of orange fluid was left underneath where the front part of the car was. It turned out to be engine coolant.

About 5000 miles later, I started to have problems with the driver and passenger side front windows. It was kind of funny - when I tried to raise a window it would some times randomly go down and vice versa. On another occasion a window would stop responding at all and it wouldn't move.

Later, I brought the car in for the recalls for the brake light switches. I've had one of three brake lights stop working on about two occasions. Also, each of the front headlights stopped working once so far.

At about 29000 miles, I couldn't listen to AM radio stations because of a static sound.

A potentially very expensive problem occurred at 37666 when the check engine light went on. The dealer diagnosed it as a faulty oxygen sensor and catalytic converter. Fortunately the dealer agreed to cover it under a warranty with no hassles and no fee.

At 41000 miles my engine coolant leaked again. I was fortunate that some one else noticed the now recognizable orange spot.

Now at 61000 miles a serious problem developed with the engine. Cylinders randomly misfired and the whole car shook as the check engine light went on. Eventually my mechanic diagnosed the culprit as a bad engine valve.

With this engine problem I'm starting to look for a new car. It has had many problems for the relatively low mileage I have put on it.

I enjoy driving it around still, but it seems like it is going to be too difficult to keep on the road.